GASK RIDGE
Perthshire, Scotland.
The ridge
runs for 25 km at ca. 60-90 m above sea level, NE
towards Perth. There have been excavations recently on
the Roman road running along this ridge and at three of
the Roman signal stations, Gask House, Parkneuk of
Roundlaw.
Gask House had a wooden tower ca. 3 m square, enclosed within a clay bank with a ditch outside. There was
only one entrance causeway, in the N side of the ditch,
facing the Roman road. The plan of the Parkneuk signal
station was almost an exact duplicate. No pottery was
found at Parkneuk, but Gask House yielded a mortarium
fragment undoubtedly of late 1st c. date.
At least 11 signal stations, ca. 1.3 km apart, are now
known on the Gask Ridge. Earlier and recent excavations
suggest that they all had a similar plan. Some lay on the
N side of the Roman road, some on the S, but they each
had an entrance facing the road, which was over 5 m
wide. They formed a chain of signaling towers installed
in connection with or as a result of Agricola's campaigns
in Scotland, A.D. 80-84.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Discovery and Excavation, Scotland
(1966) 37; (1967) 37; (1968) 28-29; (1969) 38; (1942)
33.
A. S. ROBERTSON
